English dictionary, thesaurus, translations & etymology

Etymology — The origins of English words

Where do words come from? Trace the origin and history of any English word, from its Latin, Greek or Old English roots through to its modern meaning. Every etymology is sourced.

Browse etymology by letter

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Recently added

A Slavic given name (found in Macedonian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Ukrainian, etc.) that is a cognate of the English name Luke.

Borrowed from the Cantonese pronunciation of the surname 陸/陆.

Borrowed from Cantonese romanizations of the surnames 雷 or 呂/吕.

Borrowed from Latin ludo, "I play" — a fittingly simple name for a simple game.

A Latinised short form of old Germanic names ending in -lind/-linde ("tender, soft"), later mistakenly linked to the unrelated Spanish word linda ("pretty"). The programming language was named after Linda Lovelace, echoing how the language Ada was named after Ada Lovelace.

The car brand and the informal name for the five-dollar bill both derive from US President Abraham Lincoln, whose portrait appears on the note.

From Ancient Greek λῑμός (līmós), meaning "hunger, famine."

From Latin libra, "scales, balance" — a calque of the Ancient Greek and, further back, Babylonian words for a set of weighing scales.

From Ancient Greek Λητώ (Lētṓ).

From Latin leō ("lion"), the constellation named for its resemblance to a crouching lion.

Shortened form of Lenten, from Old English lencten, from Proto-West Germanic *langatīn (“spring”), as in a season into which days lengthen as it progresses. Cognate with Alemannic German langsé, Langssi (“spring”), Bavarian longas, lòngas, longast (“spring”), Cimbrian langaz, langhes, långez (“spring”), lentz (“March”), Dutch lente (“spring”), German Lenz, Lenze (“spring”), Mòcheno langes (“spring”).

From the Danish toy company Lego, whose name was shortened from the Danish phrase leg godt, "play well". Coincidentally, lego is also a Latin word meaning "I put together".

Shortened from Spanish latinoamericano ("Latin American"), first common in American English in the 1960s.

From Latin Latīnus, "of Latium", the region of Italy where Rome was founded.

Clipping of Kylie, Kylee, or Kyleigh.

From a word meaning "river" in an Inuit language.

Borrowed from Norwegian kraken, ultimately from Old Norse kraki ("crooked tree, hook"), describing something twisted or hooked like the creature's tentacles.

An older Romanization that came into English via Czech Korán, ultimately from Arabic.

Clipping of Kimball and Kimberley as a male name, and of Kimberley and Kimberly as a female name.

Hindu surname from Sanskrit कला (kalā).

Borrowed from German kaiser ("emperor"), itself ultimately derived from the Roman name Caesar — making it a distant cousin of both "Caesar" and the Russian title "tsar."

Named for its content — a record of the acts of Israel's judges.

Origin disputed, but likely traces back to the given name Joshua; the earliest recorded uses of the verb, in the mid-1800s, are capitalized.

A shortened form of Joanna, ultimately from Hebrew via Greek and Latin, meaning "God is gracious."